Buttonhole liner



United States Patent i ABSTRACT OF DISCLOSURE The invention is an article of manufacture that lines each side of a buttonhole slit in a garment for reinforcement and appearance purposes. It comprises a piece of material having two cuts extending toward each other from opposite sides of the material along an axisbut leaving uncut a length of the material substantially equal to the length of the buttonhole slit in the garment. One surface of the material is provided with attachment means for adhering to opposite surfaces of the garment on the. same side of the slit when the material is disposed in the 3,490,864 Patented Jan. a0, 1970 One surface of this lining material so cut may, according to an embodiment of the invention, be provided with a slit folded back along the axis parallel to the length of the slit.

It has long been the practice to reinforce the slit made in garments to receive a button so that the fabric of the garment around the area of the slit will not fray and so that this area will have a finished appearance.

A well known technique for providing this reinforcement is known as the bound" buttonhole. This technique employs two pieces of material, each sewn along different sides of a buttonhole slit in a garment using blind stitching. This is extremely difficult and tedious work requiring much skill and patience to arrive at a good-looking.

buttonhole. It is so difficult and arduous an endeavor that it is generally done only by tailors for rather expensive clothing, such as suits and the like and not for shirts, dresses and similar less expensive garments. g

In these less expensive and lightweight articles of clothing. a technique generally known asa machine buttonhole is used. Here, a sewing machine with a special buttonhole attachment is utilized to bind the edge of the buttonhole slit by carefully moving the garment past the machine needle in a process that requires that the ma- I terial be moved in a direction along the axes of the slit to bind one side thereof and then reversed in direction to bind the other side. Again, this procedure requires a considerable .amount of skill and patience and a sewing machine with a special attachment or one having the ability to perform the stitch required, built into the machine. I

Of course, the buttonhole slit may be reinforced by sewing by hand. This again takes considerable skill and much patience to provide a good-looking buttonhole.-

From the foregoing, it can be seen that the art of buttonhole making is not an easy one and generally expensive, time consuming'an d requires much skill in order to provide a buttonhole that looks like it was made by a tailor. It should therefore be evidentthat a new technique, which is relatively inexpensive, which requires no sewing machine, and that may be practiced by anyone including those without any sewing and tailoring skill to provide a tailored and bound appearing buttonhole, would be a substantial advancement in'this art.

Such an advantageous buttonhole is provided by the present invention in the form of a buttonhole liner for lining a buttonhole slit in a garment comprising a piece of buttonhole lining material of any desired peripheral outline and having an axis along which two cuts extending toward each other are provided. These cuts leave a length of uncut material along the axis having a length substantially the length of the buttonhole slit in the garment.

heat setting adhesive for adhering to opposite sides of the garment on the same side of the slit when the material is disposed in the slit folded back along the axis parallel tov the length of the slit. Thus, each piece of this material, as above described, line one side of a buttonhole slit and'two such pieces are required for a complete buttonhole.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved buttonhole for garments.

It is another object of the invention to provide-a simple, inexpensive and rapid technique to furnish a garment with a bound looking buttonhole.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a tailor-made appearing buttonhole that does not require either hand or machine sewing or any sewing skill at all.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a buttonhole liner that may be of any decorative shape, design, pattern, or color that can be applied to-a garment in a few minutes and without any special skill required. I

The invention and specific embodiments thereof will be described hereinafter by way of example and withreference to the accompanying drawingwherein like reference numerals refer to like elements or parts, and' in which: I

FIG. 1 is a view of a buttonhole liner for one side of a buttonhole slit of a garment according to the invention; FIG. 2 is an illustration of a complete bound" appearing buttonhole using liners of the type shown in FIG. l;and

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the buttonhole of FIG. 2 taken along 3 3.

With reference now to the drawing and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a piece of buttonhole lining material 11 such as cloth, plastic, synthetic, leather or other suitable fabric or materialpThe material 11 may have any desired peripheralv outline 13 such. as the generally oval configuration shown. Other shapes such as generally rectangular or butterfly shaped and the like 'may be used within'the scope of this invention. The

peripheral edge 13 may be provided with a decorative sewn (not shown), or it may be in any other manner trimmed and/or reinforced. v

The material 11 also may be considered to have an axis 15 parallel to its longitudinal dimension if it has one, or in any direction generally through its center whereit is circular, for example. Two cuts 17 extending toward each other from opposite sides of the material 11 along the axis 15 are also provided so as to leave uncut a length of material I along this axis approximately the length-of a slit 19 in a garment 21 in which a finished buttonhole is to be placed. The garment may be of any material such as cloth, plastic, synthetic, leather or paper.

On one surface 23 of the material 11 is disposed a coating or layer of conventional adhering substance 25 such as a heat setting adhesive, for example, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, so that when the piece of material 11 is inserted into the slit 19, folded back along the axis 15 and parallel to the length of the slit 19, it may be permanently attached to opposite sides 27 and 29 of the garment 21 on the same side of the slit by. using a conventional pressing iron, for example. The other side of the slit 19 is similarly provided with a lining material 11" having a complementary peripheral outline 13' to complete the buttonhole as shown in FIG. 2. In placeof the heat setting adhesive described, any conventional adpressure setting or other adhesive may be used that will not overly stiffen the area around the buttonhole.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that the invention provides an inexpensive, improved, extremely versatile and useful buttonhole that may be applied to any garment by anyone without requiring any special skill or machines.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, other organizations of the embodiment shown may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the cuts 17 shown in FIG. 1 need not have a width dimension and the portions of the lining material divided by the axis 15 need not be symmetrical with respect to each other.

Accordingly, it is intended that the foregoing disclosure and drawing shall be considered only as illustrative of the principles of this invention and are not to b construed in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is: i

1. An article of manufacture in the form of a buttonhole liner for lining a buttonhole slitin a garment, comprising:

a piece of buttonhole lining material of any desired peripheral outline and having an axis, said material also having two cuts extending toward each other from opposite sides of said material along said axis, said cuts leaving therebetween .alOng said axis an uncut length of said material substantially equal to the length of said buttonhole slit in said garment; and

attachment means disposed on onesurface of said material for adhering to opposite surfaces of said gar ment on the same side of said slit when said material is disposed in said slit folded back along said axis parallel to the length of saidslit.

2. An article of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein said lining material is of cloth fabric with a generally oval peripheral outline and said attachment means is a coating of heat setting adhesive substance.

3. An article of manufacture according to claim 1. wherein said lining material is plastic and said attachment means is a coating of pressure setting adhesive substance.

4. An article of manufacture according to' claim 1, wherein said lining material is leather and said attachment means is a layer of pronged plastic filaments having barbed ends to engage and hold to said garment.

5. An article of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein said lining material is of cloth fabric and said attachment means is a coating of pressure setting adhesive substance.

6. An article of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein "said lining material is of cloth fabric and said attachment means is a layer of pronged plastic. filaments having barbed ends to engage and hold to said garment.

7. An article of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein said garment is of cloth fabric and said lining material is also of .cloth fabric.

8. An article of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein said garment is of leather and said lining material is also of leather.

9. An article, of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein said'garment is of synthetic fabric and said lining material is also of synthetic fabric.

10. An article of manufacture according to claim 1, wherein said garment is of paper and said lining material is of cloth fabric.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 492,731 2/ 1893 Lowinsky 24-202 830,034 9/1906 Ziegler 24202 X 2,552,408 5/1951 Cypher 24-265 2,671,903 3/1954 Breul 24202 X STEPHEN J. NOVOSAD, Primary Examiner U.S. Q1. X.Rt 2-266 

